Kludd
Kludd (also known as Metal Beak) is a barn owl, the first son and eldest child of Noctus and Marella, the older brother of Soren and Eglantine, the mate of Nyra, the father of Coryn, the uncle of Bell, Blythe and Sebastiana, the main antagonist of the first half of Guardians of Ga'Hoole series and a major antagonist in the 2010 film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. He was voiced by Ryan Kwanten in the film. Backstory Kludd was born late one summer in the forest of Tyto to Noctus and Marella. Shortly after hatching, Kludd knew that he was born into the wrong family as they spoke of the blessings of peace and forbid talk of battle claws, much to Kludd's annoyance. One day when Kludd was a nestling, his parents and their nestmaid snake Mrs. Plithiver left him alone in the family hollow and a group of battle claw equipped Barn Owls (among them a young female named Nyra, who was not much older than Kludd) from a group known as the Pure Ones stopped outside and told Kludd about parts of forests they had concured and small rulers they had driven out or killed, which intriged the young owl who wished to join them. However it was decided by the Pure Ones' leader The High Tyto that Kludd could join once he learned to fly. Shortly after this meeting, Kludd's brother Soren was born. ''Guardians of Ga'Hoole'' Two weeks after Soren's birth, Kludd's sister Eglantine was born. At this point, Kludd had began to learn to fly and had joined the Pure Ones. He had performed several tasks to join such as killing the nestmaid snake of another owl family and he later maimed another owl. The last task was to sacrifice a family member to which Kludd chose Soren, whom Kludd was jealous of. One night whilst Noctus and Marella were out hunting, Kludd pushed a now three week old Soren from their nest. Soren survived the fall, but Kludd believed that he would be eaten by a raccoon. However, unknown to Kludd, Soren was soon taken by owls from St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. Kludd was power-hungry and wanted to rule the Pure Ones, so he battled with their leader and killed him, although he paid a price, as a large portion of his face was ripped off. He then had a metal mask made for him to cover the scars, and became known as Metal Beak and took Nyra as his mate. Kludd later killed his parents and took Eglantine to be Stone Stunned (which involved sleeping in a crypt with human bones, resulting in lost indentities) in the Pure Ones' castle. In a later battle with Soren, who had survived and now lived at the great Ga'Hoole tree with the Guardians, Soren ripped off Kludd's mask and saw that he was his brother. Soren then melted part of his brother's mask off with a burning branch, which ended the battle and Kludd went off in search of water to cool it down. When the Guardians launched an attack on St. Aegolius Academy, an evil organization that had previously captured Soren, Kludd was anticipating their assault, and set up a trap for the Guardians. During the ensuing battle, he lured Soren to a cave, where he had six of his owls waiting to ambush him. Soren and his companions, however, escaped the trap and fought Kludd himself, but Soren could not bring himself to kill his own brother. It was until Kludd wounded Gylfie, Soren's best friend, that he tried to kill him, but another of his fellow warriors, a great grey owl named Twilight, came in and slew Kludd with a fatal blow to the back (to save Soren from having to kill his own brother). The Pure Ones were defeated, but Nyra survived and hatched her and Kludd's son named Nyroc (later known as Coryn). After his death, Kludd's bones are gathered to by Nyra for a final ceremony whilst his mask and battle claws were kept for Nyroc to inherit when he becomes the next king of the Pure Ones. Nyroc fled after failing his Special Ceremony to which Nyra warned him that the scroom (owl name for ghost) of his father would follow him. This proved true as Nyroc encountered images of Kludd in his mask who urged him to return to the Pure Ones. Eventually, Nyroc declared that he was only a mask and renounced being Kludd's son, before charging at the mask and shattering it, indicating that Kludd was finally in hagsmire (Hell) Nyra later wore a mask made from the remains of Kludd's during the battle of the Middle Kingdom. The mask was left behind on three bloodstained owls, but was later retrieved by Nyra who began wearing it as a tribute to her mate and hide the wounds caused by The Striga when he saved the chaw of chaws in the Battle of the Middle Kingdoms, having her face as badly mutilated as Kludd's. In the Movie In the movie adaptation, Kludd and Metal Beak are two different owls, and Metal Beak was a sooty owl named Surtr (as revealed in the film's video game). Kludd's personality also not as dark as his book counterpart due to his better relationships with his siblings up until his betrayal. Also in the film, Kludd does not push Soren from the nest, resulting the latter's capture, as he hadn't been in league with the Pure Ones at this time and instead is captured along with Soren and taken to St. Aegolius. Kludd originally lived in the forest of Tyto with his family. Kludd didn't believe in the legends of Ga'Hoole and was jealous of his younger brother Soren for being better than him and being favored by their parents. He longed to be appreciated and respected (which he found when joining the Pure Ones) and boasted about Tyto superiority. One day, after being taught branching by Noctus, Kludd and Soren fall from their tree (after Kludd got annoyed with Soren and shoved him for talking about his hero Lyze of Kiel) and are attacked by a Tasmanian Devil (who scars Kludd) before being captured by Jatt & Jutt and taken to St. Aggie's where Soren and his new friend Gylfie became pickers after they protest against the Albah General Nyra's speech. As Soren is taken away, he asks about Kludd, mentioning that they are brothers. Nyra asks Kludd if he wishes to join Soren as a picker, to which Kludd after some hesitation (possibly out of love for Nyra), turns away from his brother. Taking this as a no, Nyra replies that she didn't think so and calls Kludd a good solider as Soren (shocked at Kludd's betrayal) and Gylfie are taken away. After succeeding in capturing a bluebird better than the other recruits during solider training, Kludd went with Nyra to try to recruit Soren to become a solider, but find him and Gylfie being taught to fly by Grimble (an owl working for the Pure Ones in order to protect his family). Grimble pins down Nyra and tells Kludd to go home with Soren and Gylfie. Kludd once again hesitates, but after seeing Nyra struggling to breathe, declares that he is home, before screeching at Grimble, giving Nyra time to overpower the older owl and throw him to his death. During this, Soren and Gylfie escape to find the Guardians. Later when asked by Nyra what he can offer the Pure Ones, Kludd replies that he has his sister Eglantine, who would strong Tyto. Kludd takes Eglantine from the family hollow (possibly whilst Noctus and Marella where out either looking for him and Soren or hunting) and brought her to St. Aggie's. He listens to Metal Beak's speech and along with the rest of the Pure Ones present, chants Metal Beak's name. A worried Eglantine looks on before telling Kludd that she misses their parents, to which Kludd replies that she shouldn't worry as she with him and the Pure Ones appreciate them. Eglantine pleads with Kludd to come with her to find Soren, to which Kludd (who has grown to hate Soren), tells his sister to forget about Soren, saying that he is "weak". Eglantine promises not to say anything about what Kludd is doing and asks to go home. Kludd tells Eglantine that they will go home tomorrow, before he and Nyra moon-blink her. Sometime after this, Kludd gives Eglantine and another moon-blinked owlet to Allomere (a Guardian who is in league with the Pure Ones) to take to the Great Tree. During the battle against the Guardians and the Pure Ones, Kludd battles Soren in a forest fire and declares that the Pure Ones believed in him like no one has and how Metal Beak told him that the strong would survive, the broken would be put out of their misery and that honor is just another word for weakness. Soren replies that he knows that Kludd doesn't think like that, which makes Kludd reply that Soren doesn't know him at all. When launching at Soren, Kludd breaks his wing and dangles above the fire. Kludd pleads for Soren to help him, but when Soren tries to, Kludd tries to throw him into the fire, but the branch he is holding onto snaps, causing Kludd to fall into the flames. Believing his brother to be dead, an angered Soren, picks up a burning branch to go after Metal Beak to stop him destroying another owl's life, like he did to Kludd. Following Metal Beak's death and the Guardians' victory, it is revealed that Kludd (now with red Pure One eyes) had survived the fire and comes across Metal Beak's body and gazes down at his mask, possibly taking it for himself. Personality In the books, Kludd started out as being an ignorant and rude young owl who didn't have a good relationship with his parents and siblings (who were unaware of his alliance with the Pure Ones until later). He was jealous of his brother Soren from the moment he hatched, knowing that he was better than him and was favoured by their parents. The Pure Ones' influence on Kludd led him to try and kill Soren and later kill his parents and stone-stun Eglantine. He was also power-hungry and went as far as to kill the leader of the Pure Ones and replace him. Despite this, Kludd did hold love for his mate Nyra, who was the only one he truly cared about. In the film, Kludd was skeptical about the legends of Ga'Hoole and impatient with his siblings and his parents, though he seemed close to Eglantine, unlike his book counterpart, who didn't care for her at all. His relationship with Soren differed slightly from the books, where he hated his brother from the moment he hatched, whereas in this film, their relationship is the stereotypical sibling rivalry. Kludd was jealous of the attention his parents gave Soren, and seemed to have a desire to be appreciated and respected, something he found in the Pure Ones, whom he came to see as family more than his biological one. He was granted with the promised power, which proved that Kludd desired glory and power. Even before meeting the Pure Ones, he seemed to think Tytos were better than other owls, although this may have been boasting or some sense of pride of being a barn owl. During his time with the Pure Ones, Kludd's jealousy of Soren turned to hatred, enough for him to desire to kill him, which led to his defeat when he tried to trick Soren before another murder attempt. Kludd lost all love for his family, even Eglantine, whom he tried to recruit into the Pure Ones, but became frustrated when she did not succumb and for mentioning Soren, and he intentionally had her moon-blinked, though he did give her to Allomere, maybe hinting he wanted her out of harm's way. At times, he showed signs of being enamored with Nyra, referencing their relationship in the books, though the love is most likely one-sided and unreciprocated, due to Nyra being a full-grown owl (and married to Surtr) and Kludd being an adolescent. Appearance In the books, Kludd is an "unusually large" Barn Owl with a mu metal mask to cover his disfigured face and to also protect him from being affected by flecks. In the film, Kludd greatly resembles his mother Marella in having her Amber eyes and her bright feathers. He also has a small tuft of feathers on top of his head resembling a faux hawk. After being attacked by the Tasmanian Devil, Kludd gains three scars on his face; one across his right eye, one across his left eye and one on his left cheek. At the end of the film, Kludd gains red Pure One eyes. Relatives *Father - Noctus *Mother - Marella *Brother - Soren *Sister - Eglantine *Mate - Nyra *Son - Nyroc/Coryn *Sister-In-Law - Pellimore *Nieces - Blythe, Bell and Sebastiana Quotes }} Trivia *In the books, Kludd was in love with Nyra. However, in the film, the love is one-sided, as he was simply trying to impress her. *At the end of the film, Kludd can be seen gazing at Surtr's mask with red Pure One eyes. This could mean that he will become the new Metal Beak and become an even more evil (and dangerous) leader than Surtr ever was. *It is possible that in the film that the reason Kludd chose to remain with the Pure Ones rather than escape with Soren and Gylfie was because of his love for Nyra. *Kludd and Soren's age gap differs in the books and film. In the books, Kludd had begun branching (the first step to learning to fly) when Soren was three weeks old whereas in the film, both brothers have began to learn branching at the same time, hinting that in the film, Soren was born not long after Kludd, unlike the books where they were many weeks apart. 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